March 05, 2009

Tethered cormorants used for fishing in the old days. A fisherman lightly ties a string around the bird's neck which prevents caught fish from being swallowed. The fisherman retrieves the lodged fish from the bird's throat. Nowadays, cormorants are displayed mainly for tourist photos.

I traveled for some time with a Chinese native backpacker who brought me to some of the more locally famous places around these parts. Luzhi is a gorgeous little town crisscrossed with canals reminiscent of Venice. Mostly Chinese package tourists shuffle through during the day but by 5pm, the town empties out and there's nary a tourist around. It's a photographer's paradise without any matching hat tourists to clutter up the background of your photos.